Business dean receives Ford education award

(July 23, 2007)--Lynda de la Viña, dean of the UTSA College of Business, received the Ford Salute to Education award during Ford Motor Company's annual banquet July 17. The event honored outstanding community leaders for their major contributions to education and raised money for student scholarships.

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De la Viña is the only female Hispanic business dean in the University of Texas System. She was the first Mexican-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in economics in the United States and the first Mexican-American woman at the secretarial level of the U.S. Treasury. She was named one of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics by Hispanic Business magazine.

She was named dean and Peter Flawn Professor of Economics at the UTSA College of Business on July 1, 2005. She also is the executive director of the Center for Global Entrepreneurship, which she founded to improve the prospect for growth-oriented, globally competitive entrepreneurship in emerging and transitional markets.

De la Viña was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to the 17-person advisory committee for the Emerging Technology Fund, a $200 million fund created to foster innovation, research and job creation in emerging high-tech industries. She received master's and doctorate degrees in economics at Rice University and a bachelor's in government and economics from UT Pan American.